The Life and Lies of Shisui Uchiha
by silvestial
Summary: A tale of how a reincarnated soul ends up in the body of one Shisui Uchiha. An SI-OC story. Kind of. Not really. It's complicated.


_I do not own Naruto_

* * *

He's nearing his second birthday when the voice in his head starts talking.

_I want to pet the cat._

Being the child he is, Shisui hasn't quite mastered this thing called impulse control and immediately concedes to the voice's wish. It also helps that he was about to do the same thing anyway. He likes the birdies better but he'll settle with petting an animal that won't immediately fly away.

He reaches a out a chubby hand, ignoring the feline's tense stance.

The cat hisses and swipes a paw out, extended claws catching on his wrist. It then runs off into the shadows that lurk in the alleyway, leaving behind three rather shallow scratches.

Red hot pain erupts and Shisui startles, tipping backward to land solidly on his rump, dark eyes beading up with tears.

_Shit!- Wait- I shouldn't be saying that- Sorry! _

The words do absolutely nothing to delay the imminent meltdown.

Coincidentally, the voice also doesn't talk for a while after that.

Not that Shisui notices. He's a bit too young to be worrying about split personalities or other psychological issues that involve having another person in your head.

* * *

_Tilt your weight back._

He blinks in surprise.

_Bend your knees more and use your arms to balance._

Shisui immediately tries this and finds, to his delight, that staying on top of the lamp is a lot easier.

Of course, _not_ being on top of the lamp would also make things easier but where's the fun in that?

_Don't fall. _

Really, who is he kidding? Falling? Him? No way. He's gonna do this perfectly and his father will be super proud. Shisui Uchiha has no doubts. None at all. None whatsoever.

_Mhmm. Smells like denial to me._

He twists his lips into a Super Fearsome scowl ( _I'm telling you, it's a_ pout _) _and readies himself to jump.

"Shisui? Shisui what the fu- frick?"

He startles, causing his already precarious situation to worsen.

"Why are you like this..." His cousin bemoans, briefly pressing his fingers to his forehead and closing his eyes because Uchiha are Dignified and do not facepalm even if it fits the situation.

"Hey! Hey, Oniisan, watch!" Shisui shouts, completely bulldozing over his cousin's incredulity.

"Wait- !"

Shisui jumps.

_This is gonna hurt._

And that's how Shisui ends up spending his fourth birthday with a broken ankle. The voice finally runs out of apologies three hours later but that's okay because Shisui forgave it after the first one. It was his idea that got him injured, after all.

* * *

_Shisui no. This is a Bad Idea. This is a Really Bad Idea. We shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't even be here!_

He completely ignores the voice with the talent of one used to brushing off parental guidance and warning labels.

Honestly, they should've known better by now. People like Shisui are the reason shampoo bottles come with instructions on them.

_That's not something to be proud of, baka. _

Regardless of the danger, Shisui is gonna do this.

He shuffles forward, still crouched. The abandoned kunai is still where his cousins left it, sharp tip sunk into the dusty earth of one of the Uchiha's many training grounds.

He shifts into a stance that's better suited to fleeing at the first hint of danger and continues onward, dark eyes trained on the prize.

He glances around.

Nobody seems to be watching.

He darts forward and yanks the rather dangerous object out of the ground, taking a split second to wonder why it's so much heavier than he'd thought it'd be, then dashes back to safety.

_Clear!_

He's not caught? Was nobody there? It probably says something that he's so used to being caught that it feels wrong to get away with it.

He looks around suspiciously, half expecting a cousin or worse, his father, to jump out at him, demanding he gives his treasure back.

_Huh. _

The forest is as silent as ever and suddenly Shisui comes to the unpleasant realization that he still has no idea if he was caught. Anyone could be watching and he'd never know because Father says he's too young to learn ninja tricks even though he's already working on weapons training and Taijutsu.

He shivers.

_Ah, paranoia, thy name is Shisui._

Invisible, judging eyes seem to bore into him and he finds himself tempted to drop the kunai and run like some civilian criminal.

_What do you even plan to do with it? It's much too heavy to train with and Father will notice it immediately. _

Oh. Right. What was he going to do with it? Did he even plan at all?

_No._

Maybe next time he should think his plan through. For now, Shisui settles with dropping the kunai in a bush and running off. He's still not convinced that he wasn't caught in the act so dropping the evidence and fleeing is the best course of action.

It's totally coincidental that Shisui sneakily hints that no matter what anyone says, he definitely Did Not Do It.

(His father certainly isn't fooled and is left wondering what his son did with no small amount of apprehension. Most things involving Shisui tend to garner this response.)

* * *

He's approaching five years of age when his father decides to sign him up for the academy. For him, it's expected. It means that he can help support his family and his clan, bringing honor to both of them.

The day he joins the academy is also the day he learns about what he's getting into. The voice in his head hadn't exactly withheld the information but it hadn't been very forthcoming either.

"I don't... I don't understand?"

_You may think this is the only option but it's not. If you do not wish to do this, you do not have to. _

He's almost offended.

"I'm going to become a shinobi. I've been training since I was two! Actually, why am I saying this? The choice has already been made. There's no backing out- not that I want to!" He starts, righteous indignation flashing briefly in his eyes.

_You're going to have to kill. Babies. Children. Women. Men. Elders. Death doesn't discriminate, Shisui. Neither does the Hokage._

"I know that!"

_Do you? Let me tell you a story, Shisui. A cautionary tale, if you will. Once upon a time, there was a white wolf and his pack. The alpha of the pack told the white wolf to send a message to their eastern allies and allowed him to take two of his closest packmates. The white wolf set out with his friends to deliver the message only to find his route to be overrun by crow, an enemy of theirs. The crow captures the white wolf's two closest packmates, giving the white wolf a chance to flee because if the white wolf doesn't deliver the message, he could be the match that lights the fire of war. So the white wolf is left with a decision to make. He can save his packmates at the price of war or he can condemn them for the good of the pack. What do you think he chooses?_

Shisui pauses.

_Imagine your father was with you and got captured. Would you let him die or would you put the mission first?_

"No. No, I would save my father. My mission can be redone... my father cannot be brought back."

_Oh? Well, then you make the same mistake the white wolf did. _

"Mistake_? _Saving the life of someone I care about is _never_ a mistake."

Predictably, the voice ignores him.

_The white wolf puts his comrades over the mission, causing a war to break out. He is vilified, scorned, and openly hated by his pack and the wolves he saved. Do you know what he turns to Shisui? Do you know to what lengths he goes to so his son is not despised along with him?_

Shisui stays silent in a rare moment of emotional maturity.

_He commits seppuku, Shisui. After giving up everything for his pack and his friends, the white wolf is driven to suicide by the very ones he saved. He gave his everything to the pack and got nothing in return. _That_ is what it means to be a shinobi, Shisui. You let it take everything you have and when it asks for more, you have to dig down deep and hope there will still be something left of you when it's over. This is not an honorable profession. We will kill, steal, lie to, and betray anyone and everyone if that is what our superior wants. We are only tools for our Hokage to use, no matter how he dresses it up. _

The truth of it echos around in his skull.

Will that be him someday? Driven to suicide by a profession that just takes and takes and takes?

The voice in his head seems eerily silent now and that might've been the longest conversation he's had with it.

_You're still young, Shisui. You have time to decide. Think about it._

He gets the feeling that the last bit was unnecessary. He can't stop thinking about it even if he tried.

* * *

He's checked, double-checked, and triple-checked all of his supplies.

_Perhaps we should go over the kunai again? It wouldn't do to be one short._

Absolutely not. Shisui is so very done with going over his supplies and would like to get going, please and thank you.

"Shisui? All packed? Got your shuriken? Kunai? What about senbon?" His mother is asking and yeah, that's probably where Shisui got his minor case of OCD from.

_Minor?_

He ignores the voice, who's been a lot more talkative lately, and hitches his pack further upon his shoulders.

"I'm ready to go, Hahaue*."

His mother smiles, she always does when he uses that form of address, and sweeps him into a hug.

"Be good Shisui."

Then she's moving away, already behind on patching up clothes for the day. His father comes padding down the stairs next, giving Shisui a customary look over ( to which he responds with an Uchiha-esque 'Hn' ) and then turns back to his office, likely to get his daily paperwork done.

He should be used to it by now, the instant dismissal, but it would've been nice to get at least a "fighting*!" or two.

Or maybe not. That would sound weird coming from his father.

_If we don't go now, we run the risk of being late._

He startles, glancing at the sun overhead, and sure enough, he's about to miss the 8:00 initiation.

"Bye Chichiue*!" Shisui calls out anyways, ducking out the door in a rush.

He tears down the streets, twisting around people with the skill of someone used to fleeing into crowds. He isn't late enough to warrant how fast he's moving but the thrill of running so quickly is exhilarating.

He skids to a stop just in time to make a dignified entrance into the building. His father promised to tan his hide if he goofed off and brought anything less than respect to their household.

_Step!_

He smoothly brings up his foot like he almost didn't almost miss the raised flooring and continues on his way.

This may be harder than he thought.

* * *

**A/N**

* Hahaue - An extremely formal and particularly outdated way to refer to one's mother.

* Chichiue - Similar to Hahaue, Chichiue is used to show extreme respect to one's father.

Both formalities are super respectful and were mostly only used during the Samurai period in Japanese history. Seeing as how the Uchiha clan is pretty aristocratic and archaic when it comes to traditions, I feel like these forms of address fit best.

* Fighting - Kinda like saying 'good luck!' or 'you can do it!'. It's not a Japanese saying ( I think it's Chinese? Correct me if I'm wrong) but while the Naruto world does seem like imperial Japan, I've noticed a bunch of other Asian cultures tossed in. You can say this is my contribution to cultural diffusion.

* * *

The Third Shinobi War is raging outside Konoha's walls and Shisui is being pressured to join the frontlines.

He skims through the academy with the ease of a genius and graduates within a year of joining.

He just nearly beats Hatake's record. If only his birthday hadn't been the week before graduation.

The voice in his head claims this a good thing- being noticeable will be detrimental to his career, but Shisui can't help but be slightly disappointed. He's already fairly noticeable anyways, being hailed as the Uchiha's once-in-a-lifetime child genius will do that to you, and really, what difference would it have made if he was famous from beating Hatake's record as well?

He's placed on a Jounin team, a traditional four-man squad, at the age of six.

The voice whispers that they're war-bound, a team built for sabotage and listed as a subversion squad in the records file. He doesn't want to believe it. Surely he won't be on the frontlines so soon? Not to mention, saboteurs have a notoriously high mortality rate due to the unpredictability of their occupation. The voice claims that with his abilities and Sharingan, he'll make the perfect assassin. Seeing as how ANBU are traditionally just that, it's likely that he's being groomed to join once he reaches Jounin. Being on the sabotage squad will get him results and a good repertoire but it's deadly... well, everything makes it an unfavorable stepping stone to get into ANBU.

But he signed up for this.

He wanted this life.

Maybe wanted is a bit of a stretch but he did agree to put his life on the line over and over again in service of the village.

_A nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow... that is what we are._

He's never agreed more with a statement.

* * *

"Unlike other Jounin-senseis, I will not be giving you a test to complete. This is your team now and I am your sensei."

_Damn, she's intimidating. _

Shisui completely agrees with this statement. His new sensei is a woman of formidable height, brown hair twisted into two tight buns, crimson-stained lips pursed, and cold eyes unreadable. She radiates all the warmth of a glacier in winter.

"Seeing as how we will be together for a while, it is reasonable that we get to know each other. I will go first."

She changes her posture abruptly, leaning back on her heels and crossing her arms in front of her voluptuous form.

"I am Sayori Asume. You will refer to me as Asume-sensei. I value obedience and will not tolerate recklessness. Uchiha, go."

Shisui startles slightly at the sudden callout but continues without missing a beat.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui. I like crows and value intelligence. I dislike arrogance. Please take care of me."

He finishes his introduction with a shallow bow to his new team because he has manners and his mother would be the one to tan his hide if she found out he was being rude. There's a brief lull in the conversation before the boy next to him picks it up.

"_Knife_ to meet you, Shisui-san! I'm Musuki Ito and I really like weapons puns! I dislike _sticks_ in the mud and people who can't _handle_ my _razor-sharp_ wit. Please take care of me~"

If there was any tension in the first place, it would've diffused immediately. The plain-looking boy grins winningly and Shisui finds himself having to stifle a chuckle. Puns are just another form of intelligence, after all, and it's a characteristic Shisui greatly values. The boy finishes with a rather silly half-bow that would get him laughed out of the Uchiha council but Shisui does appreciate the effort to seem polite.

The teacher's gaze swings around to view the last member of their team and the girl seems to wilt under Asume-sensei's intense gaze.

"Eto... I'm Nemuri Tsuichi. I-I, um, like calligraphy? I don't really like sweets. P-Please take care of me."

The girl finishes with a short, jerky bow, short black hair swinging forward into her reddened face.

All three of them startle when Asume-sensei brings her hands together in a short and sudden clap. "We will meet here tomorrow at early noon. Do not be late or you will regret it."

And with that pleasant warning, she disappears in a soundless _Shunshin._

_Y'know, this team of yours might actually turn out okay._

* * *

**A/N**

Because this always helps me imagine the dialogue better, I figured I should give the phonetic spelling of everyone's name.

Basically, this is to help myself (and you) understand how to pronounce everyone's names.

Uchiha Shisui - OO-chee-hah ShEE-SOO-E

Sayori Asume - Sae-yo-re Asu-may ( Asume-sensei - Asu-may sen-sei )

Musuki Ito - Mu-suke-eh EE-toh

Nemuri Tsuichi - Neh-mu-ray Suu-ee-chee

Sound it together and read it out loud. Once you've got it down, speed the name up until it sounds vaguely like a Japanese name. Honestly, it's not the best but it really helped smooth the way the conversation flowed. (for me at least)

I also find the way 'Uchiha' is pronounced to be inadvertently hilarious. Like, oochie-ha? Really? Say it really slow and it gets even funnier. I have no idea why.

Please ignore my ramblings- I like to think I'm funny.

* * *

He's (unfortunately) up with the sun, a characteristic shared by young children and insomniacs who never went to sleep in the first place.

And Gai.

But Gai doesn't count because Shisui's pretty sure he's not human.

Nobody human would be up at the crack of dawn and still be able to radiate Youthful Energy as Gai is now.

_In a world where people defy gravity, physics, and all sorts of universal laws, you're dumbfounded by _this.

Shisui mentally nods, too tired to summon up the effort to do it physically, and watches with bleary eyes as Gai attacks the wooden post with ridiculous (for this time of day) enthusiasm.

He's sitting in a tree, a travel mug of highly caffeinated tea gripped in his hands, silently contemplating the merits of pranking his father as said father was the one that forced him out of the house so early.

_"Go train with your team," He said, "You're a Genin now, it's time you got used to early wake-ups". I bet the rest of our team isn't even awake yet. Lucky duckies._

Lucky duckies, indeed. Shisui is starting to regret graduating so early. Maybe then he could've put off the sudden responsibilities and expectations that came with being a genin.

_Well, the way I see it, we have three options. Option one involves going back to sleep but then we run the risk of oversleeping and making Father mad. Option two is hunting down our teammates to train and getting to wake them up. That way we can all suffer together! Nothing brings a team together more than shared pain! Option three is training solo. Or maybe with Gai? He may be an exercise-nut but it certainly seems to get him results._

Shisui scowls into the mug at the idea of training with Gai. Uchiha, he may be, but masochistic he is not.

That really only leaves him with one good option.

While sleeping sounds great, hot tea filled with a borderline lethal amount of caffeine sounds better.

He'll also freely admit that it would cheer him up to have others suffering with him.

_Sounds like a plan. Whose house first? This is a good opportunity to practice tracking outside of our lessons. _

"Mmm... Musuki Ito? The knife puns guy? How are we supposed to track him?"

_Haha, I like that kid. His puns are pretty great. I say we should use our resources. The Academy Chuunin should feel bad for us, right? I know they've got everybody's addresses on record. We can probably get them to spill by playing up the 'stressed teammate' act. It isn't unusual for Jounin-senseis to leave these things up to their students as a test and we won't be lying when we say we're getting them to go train._

Shisui wrinkles his nose at the idea of lying to the people who used to be his teachers (not for long, though) but shrugs off the pointless guilt. It's not like his lie will really matter and he needs to get used to this kind of thing. Pausing briefly, Shisui chugs the last dregs of his tea, giving a contented sigh when it's emptied, and shoves it in his pack before taking off.

He makes an effort to go unseen because it's still too early to interact with Gai but Shisui gets the feeling he got noticed anyways.

He just thanks his lucky stars that Gai doesn't seem to want to interact either.

* * *

"...so I was wondering if I get their addresses?" Shisui finishes, giving the tired desk chuunin a bashful smile.

"Musuki Ito, you said? And Nemuri Tsuichi? I'll see what I can do, young man. But I need your registration number- security reasons, you understand."

"Aa, no problem Obaasan. It's 011642."

The old woman nods and stands up, limbs creaking exaggeratedly. Shisui has no doubt that most of this is likely a henge or a genjutsu because the Hokage would never put somebody incapable of defending the Academy records in charge but it's bad manners to dispel an ally's disguise, especially if they're undercover so he treats her like he would treat his grandmother.

She wanders off into the back and then it's just him standing alone with his thoughts.

It's here that he starts to worry a bit. It's not that he lied about his number or obscured too much information but rather the fact that he could get caught and there's absolutely nothing he could say that would save him.

His smile strains at the edges and a new bead of sweat treks its way down the side of his face.

_Stay strong, Shisui. It's better that we learn to lie here than out there in the field or worse._

He takes a few moments to calm down, to lower his heart rate and suppress his emotions. He'd rather be able to lie from practice and not experience. The field is not a very good place to learn or try new things.

_That's the spirit!_

A few more minutes later and the old woman comes back with a file. She bends over to scatch a few sentences down on a piece of paper and Shisui is somewhat glad that he isn't getting to look at the whole folder. While he may want to get to know his teammates, reading their records is not the way to building trust.

"Have a nice day, Uchiha-san." The old woman tells him and he gives her a grateful bow before taking the paper and running off.

_Time to find our teammates..._


End file.
